Sword and Shield
The Sword and Shield are the first and arguably most basic weapon in the game. It consists of a shield, or, more accurately, a buckler, over the left arm, a sword in the right and a fast-paced, scout-type style of gameplay, similar the the Bow and Arrows but serves a melee role when the Bow shows a ranged one. Though it has less moves than other melee weapons, whch all have four moves, It is easy to pick up and use, relatively easy to master, but still is annoying to deal with and produces extremely deadly results. Appearance The sword and shield consists of two seperate weapons; a traditional one-or-two handed sword, or more specifically, a Bastard Sword, in the right hand and a wooden buckler strapped across the left arm. The sword is held loosely erect with the tip pointing upwards, wavers and jiggles during walking, and moves up and down with arm movement while running, though breifly points forward turing the charge-up and slight aftermath of the charge attack as it is thrusted forward. The buckler is usually held facing left, though takes the position of where the arm is facing if it moves. When the sheld is in the blocking position, it is bought up to cover the front of the body with the arm at a ninety degree angle, coving the chest and part of the groin with its diameter. The first idle animatiion is when the sword is held loosly by the hilt, and swung in a loose vertical circle before being gripping tightly, and then the grip relaxes again. The second idle animation is where the left arm is rolled in a vertical cicle, then the Battlegrounder rolls their shoulders for a second, before relaxing. Both of these occur after 20s of standstill in-game. Moveset The following table describes a moveset for the sword and shield. Strategy With The Sword and Shield play a very versatile, scout-like role, and work well with Light-Footed, but work best with Slide. Using the slide to knock enemies, then using a sword charge to knock enemies again, then finishing off the job with the usual sword strokes, giving the enemy no time to retaliate. The shield provides the best melee weapon's defence against ranged projectiles, as it is able to negate damage from them, but bear in mind that your speed is slowed while the shield is up, so paln ahead for that. Make sure you take advantage of the fact that you have a easy blocking ability with the shield. You can hold it up, rather than timing it like a War Axe or Crossbow, and block ranged projectiles with it. Take advantage of the stagger your opponents recieve when they attack your shield, and press your advantage before they recover. Try not to let your enemies realise that they will get staggered if they attack, and time your blocks to trick them into attacking. Making use of your thrust is an important thing to do, both in battle and in momentum. Thrusting then sliding preserves your momentum, allowing you to cover more ground easily. This also works with wall-running, making you able to scale more wall before falling. Remember you can do this in midair, or fly into the air from the ground, making you able to get behind your opponents and surprise them. Using the thrust to knock enemies is just as important as the damage. Keep an eye out for ranged opponents. It's easy to assume you're invunrable to damage, but not do anything to make yourself like it. Keep an eye on ranged opponents, and make sure your shield is up to block them as much as possible, as you do not get much advance warning when they fire. Crouching is a good method here, because even though it makes you even slower, the shield covers a lot more of your body, making it harder for an attacker to find a spot to fire. That being said, don't be lured into a trap where you're so focused on them, you get surprised by someone else. Against The archer's effects are pretty well negated by the Sword and Sheld Battlegrounder. Your arrows don't do much, and grappling at them to try to knock them over just knocks you over instead. Try to get up close, dodge around them with the teleport and hope they don't realise what happened long enough for you to shoot them. This is by no means foolproof, however, as even if their movement speed is down, their turning speed isn't. Using a melee weapon against the Sword and Shield can be about fencing. Circling each other, making sure that your opponent doesn't slip up, and when they do, smashing them to smithereens. This is common in Sword and Shield vs. Sword and Shield fights. Another way to handle it is to go full-on offense, trying to get behind your opponent and stagger them to make them drop their guard. Getting behind a Sword and Shield is probably the best way to take them down. Firing with a crossbow is easy, but not if the Sword and Shield battlegrounder has any skill. If they see you, the competant battlegrounder will crouch and bring their shield up, then try to get near. Don't fire a bolt at them in that case. Try to go for the head. If they don't notice you, try to fire off a shot at their head, then stay hidden so they don't see where you are, and you can get another shot off. Finally, if you're using a barrier, don't fire your spiked ball at them. This has no effect on the shield, and the spiked ball isn't the best at vertical aim. Instead, use your net to try to catch them, then run up and bash them or fire spiked balls before they can get their defense back up. Trivia The Sword and Shield is the only weapon which are technically two weapons. The Bow and Arrows could be argued as being two weapons, but really, the arrow is just a projectile, and not technically a weapon. The sword in the Sword and shield was origanally a Claymore, before the style was focused solely on vikings and the norse raiders. The Sword and Shield was planned to have a fourth, uppercut ability. This was scrapped as the War Axe came into form.